Teaching assistant killed in Purdue school shooting was an Eagle Scout

In news that makes a tragic story hit painfully close to home, today we learned Andrew Boldt, the victim of Tuesday’s fatal shooting at Purdue University, was an Eagle Scout.

Boldt, a 21-year-old undergraduate teaching assistant and electrical engineering major at Purdue, earned Scouting’s highest honor in August 2009, Boy Scouts of America records confirm. Former teachers called him bright and always willing to help others.

Boldt was inside the school’s Electrical Engineering Building about noon Tuesday when he was shot and killed. The alleged shooter is currently in jail on suspicion of homicide, and a motive is not yet known.

The Boldt family, according to the (Lafayette, Ind.) Journal and Courier, is asking for privacy. They released a statement through their church that “for the moment their request is simply that we pray. … We continue to lift up Andrew and all those who suffer into the loving hands of Christ.”

We’re all members of Scouting’s tight-knit family, and so let’s keep Andrew’s family in our thoughts and prayers. A fellow Scout and Eagle Scout has gone home; may he rest in peace.

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Tragic! That’s the third scout we’ve lost in a school shooting in the past 13 months (including the 2 tiger scouts killed at Sandy Hook). God rest their souls and bless their families. Let us remember Andrew, as well as Chase Kowalski and Benjamin Wheeler from Sandy Hook in all we do as scouters, and let their tragic untimely deaths inspire us to keep the spirit of scouting alive in their names.

As a fellow Eagle Scout, current Purdue Student, and tenant of the same dorm as Andrew it is tough to say goodbye. Even though many did not get to know him, his life was important and it was meant to be celebrated. RIP my fellow scout, student, and Boilermaker.

Thank you for the nice blog post about Drew. I became Scoutmaster of his troop a couple years after he earned Eagle, but was involved at the time he was active. He was the epitome of an Eagle Scout. Extremely intelligent and always eager to help, whether it was service hours at the church or another scout’s Eagle project. He will be sorely missed.

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Bryan on Scouting is the official blog of Scouting magazine, a Boy Scouts of America publication. Scouting magazine is published five times a year and is received by 1 million registered adult volunteers.